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Vote ‘no’ for civil rights for everyone

By Josiah Coxfrom Bemidji on Oct 17, 2012 at 11:51 p.m.

To marriage amendment supporters: You are probably not a bad person; you probably have your reasons for voting “yes” on the marriage amendment. You probably are not hateful, mean and discriminatory or even a bigot, and you may even feel that what you are doing is the right thing.

They say one apple can spoil the whole bunch and many bad apples have risen. There are screw-ups on both sides, but one side is about freedom and the other about limiting citizens to one idea of marriage that follows one definition of an idea used all over the world and a right we all deserve.

We all ought to have the right to the pursuit of happiness and individual freedoms.

When you vote “yes,” you limit the freedoms of Americans, your friends, family members, neighbors, loved ones, soldiers who fought for your rights, your religious brothers and sisters, anyone and everyone who is not the same as you.

Ignorance, even when shrouded behind religion, is still ignorance. Have faith in the human race and the God who loves everyone who will judge your sins just like everyone else’s. When you vote “yes,” you hurt others and our future.

Although you are probably not a bad person, this amendment is as bad as it gets. If you embody something this bad, it changes you, and you will be perceived as those sad and horrible things, because your actions speak louder than anything and when your actions are based on such a hurtful idea, you are seen as a hurtful person, the backlash that follows is inevitable.

I’m sorry you feel that voting “yes” is right, no matter what reasons you have, I will forgive you, but I will never stop fighting against you. You are wrong; your idea is wrong and hurtful to me, my rights and the rights of countless people across our nation world and history.